Money order dispensing machines are well-known in the prior art. Such machines typically include a number of moveable printing levers and a printing control arm. In response to a customer request, the machine operator positions the printing levers at a position corresponding to the requested amount of the money order, inserts a blank order in the machine, and actuates the printing control arm. The above steps must be repeated each time a money order is requested by a customer.
Such mechanical money order dispensing machines have proven inadequate since they do not include any effective means for securing the dispenser. In particular, the machine operator can produce a "counterfeit" order by simply separating a blank money order into its separate parts, a customer portion and a vendor portion, and printing different numerical amounts thereon. Such counterfeiting techniques are facilitated by the simple mechanical nature of the prior art money order dispenser, wherein blank money orders are inserted one at a time for manual printing. Of course, this manual operation also makes the dispenser cumbersome to use, as well as extremely slow.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a money order dispenser having increased security, and which can also vend money orders efficiently.